Post Office snafu?! Should I be worried?!

[Deleted]

Arrrrrrrrrrgh, I'm fit to be tied at the moment. In fact, livid.  
Here's what just happened.

SO said he had errands to run, did I have anything to go to the P.O.?  Well, yeah...yesterday's non-paying sweater buyer paid this morning and I already pickup confirmation on 3 from yesterday so I told him to go ahead and just mail the sweater for me. I also instructed him to get a printout so we had mileage proof. 

There was a line at the counter, and after a few minutes a new supervisor came out and offered to take the pkg. SO told him, before scanning it, that he needed a receipt. Well, spvsr got his hackles up and said, "NO, that's what you get the online discount for. NO receipt." Period. So he tells the guy we have to have a receipt for tax purposes.

Well, he got a receipt alright...and it shows pymt of $9.80 counter rate (customer paid $9)...

So now the $64k question is, will that sweater arrive with postage due?! My cost was $7.17 and I'm worried sick that this is going to backfire on me. And I'm doubly pissed because this was a sweater SO had insisted on paying $5.50 for and it took 4 months to sell it (even w/ dropped price)...while only making $5 profit, with the shipping discount. 

Should I contact the customer as a CMA measure? 
Any lessons learned yet, HARD HEAD?? 

Well, if that's the way the P.O. is going to operate, then just dropping off pkgs leaves little wiggle room for CMA because they're not even scanning pkgs now until they get to the sort facility late at night.

Incidentally, I took 2 pkgs in on Friday, got a printout...with NO hassles! 

[Deleted]

But did you get a scan sheet on Friday or a receipt? I can see where a receipt would be harder for them to do without payment at the counter.

As for your question though, it should be OK. If they were going to charge you more, they would have charged YOU. Well, your SO in this case. I'm assuming the clerk just left your label intact and sent it on its way as normal.

Our clerks really, really don't like helping people with pre-paid packages. They just want you to put it on the designated spot for drop offs, and turn around and leave.

[Deleted]

Mar 2, 2015 23:26:54 GMT @elly said:

But did you get a scan sheet on Friday or a receipt? I can see where a receipt would be harder for them to do without payment at the counter.

As for your question though, it should be OK. If they were going to charge you more, they would have charged YOU. Well, your SO in this case. I'm assuming the clerk just left your label intact and sent it on its way as normal.

Our clerks really, really don't like helping people with pre-paid packages. They just want you to put it on the designated spot for drop offs, and turn around and leave.

Scan sheet.

OK...maybe it'll work out. He didn't have to whip his wallet out (or anything else! )

[Deleted]

I forgot to tell you the most important part. They don't know what you paid, unless things have changed very recently.

About once a year I take a package in and ask them to verify weight. So I know my scale is still reading correctly. The last time I took one in I had cut it too close. I had it at 13 oz/FC and they insisted it weighed 14 oz. It was a huge hassle for me to pay the extra because they didn't know what I paid. Apparently that is not one of the things the bar code reads. They finally accepted the difference between online FC price and counter Priority price. I knew I actually paid LESS than the online price, but there's no way I could have come up with the exact figure. And I had no idea they wouldn't be able to either or I would have written it on the package.

So you would have known if the clerk were going to charge extra for the package. He would have had to ask SO what he paid in order to calculate the difference.

[Deleted]

Mar 2, 2015 23:46:38 GMT @elly said:

I forgot to tell you the most important part. They don't know what you paid, unless things have changed very recently.

About once a year I take a package in and ask them to verify weight. So I know my scale is still reading correctly. The last time I took one in I had cut it too close. I had it at 13 oz/FC and they insisted it weighed 14 oz. It was a huge hassle for me to pay the extra because they didn't know what I paid. Apparently that is not one of the things the bar code reads. They finally accepted the difference between online FC price and counter Priority price. I knew I actually paid LESS than the online price, but there's no way I could have come up with the exact figure. And I had no idea they wouldn't be able to either or I would have written it on the package.

So you would have known if the clerk were going to charge extra for the package. He would have had to ask SO what he paid in order to calculate the difference.

Well, twice last year I miscalculated FC by .1 oz (under 13 oz), and rather than chance it, I walked it to the counter for a re-weigh. The clerk did a little figuring and I got charged a whopping $1.40 extra. When I questioned the amount, she said "You automatically lost your online discount."

Lesson learned! Had I known that then, I would've just printed a new label.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure why you needed a receipt for mileage proof. Couldn't you have just recorded the mileage in your mileage log? I think your package will be fine -- wouldn't bother contacting the buyer.

I don't ever stand in line at the post office if I have packages with postage already. There is a designated spot for people to leave packages so I just drop them there and depart. Of course, my PO is really good about scanning the packages in. If they weren't I might stay in line just to make sure they got scanned. I get paranoid about the whole postage due thing so always overestimate my weight by a little bit and if something is really close I just bump it up to the next level. With our discount it usually isn't that much more and it gives me peace of mind.

[Deleted]

Well, twice last year I miscalculated FC by .1 oz (under 13 oz), and rather than chance it, I walked it to the counter for a re-weigh. The clerk did a little figuring and I got charged a whopping $1.40 extra. When I questioned the amount, she said "You automatically lost your online discount."

Do you show your cost on the label? I use stealth postage and my clerk swore there was no way for her to tell what I had paid. That's why it was such a hassle to pay the difference. She didn't have a starting point for calculation.

[Deleted]

Mar 3, 2015 0:11:47 GMT @pennywise4 said:

I get paranoid about the whole postage due thing so always overestimate my weight by a little bit and if something is really close I just bump it up to the next level. With our discount it usually isn't that much more and it gives me peace of mind.

I also over estimate. I cut off FC shipping when my scale weighs the package over 11 oz. I pay for 13. 

[Deleted]

You don't need a receipt from the PO to prove mileage. Like penny said, just log it. I don't have receipts documenting any of my PO trips.

[Shirley U Geste]

I can see where a receipt would be harder for them to do without payment at the counter.

Not at all. When mine get scanned at the counter it automatically prints out a receipt, it's part of the scan process.

The PO employee was just being a PITA.

[Deleted]

Mar 3, 2015 0:11:47 GMT @pennywise4 said:

I'm not sure why you needed a receipt for mileage proof. Couldn't you have just recorded the mileage in your mileage log? I think your package will be fine -- wouldn't bother contacting the buyer.

I don't ever stand in line at the post office if I have packages with postage already. There is a designated spot for people to leave packages so I just drop them there and depart. Of course, my PO is really good about scanning the packages in. If they weren't I might stay in line just to make sure they got scanned. I get paranoid about the whole postage due thing so always overestimate my weight by a little bit and if something is really close I just bump it up to the next level. With our discount it usually isn't that much more and it gives me peace of mind.

Well I haven't started a mileage log yet. And I have a SO who really, really LIKES to do things the hard way. Like stand in line. Seriously! (where's the head scratcher emoticon?)

Furthermore, my main P.O. stays really, really busy. They had been very consistent about scans with just a drop off (even blue box), but the last 3 times there were absolutely no scans until they hit the sort facility late at night. Which leaves me paranoid in the interrim. I mean, who's to say someone can't/or won't pick up a pkg and walk out with it? 

I don't bump up unnecessarily. If it's exactly 12 oz, that's exactly what I pay for. I trust my new scale. So far, anyway. But I also weigh it multiple times to ensure it is exactly the same each time. I had occasional variations with my old scale before I realized it just needed a new battery. 

[Deleted]

Mar 3, 2015 0:15:42 GMT @elly said:

Well, twice last year I miscalculated FC by .1 oz (under 13 oz), and rather than chance it, I walked it to the counter for a re-weigh. The clerk did a little figuring and I got charged a whopping $1.40 extra. When I questioned the amount, she said "You automatically lost your online discount."

Do you show your cost on the label? I use stealth postage and my clerk swore there was no way for her to tell what I had paid. That's why it was such a hassle to pay the difference. She didn't have a starting point for calculation.

Back then, I did show postage when the customer paid for it...and before I stopped giving them MY discount.

[Deleted]

Mar 3, 2015 0:53:11 GMT Shirley U Geste said:

The PO employee was just being a PITA.

Yep. SO said he came out strutting his stuff like he was Mr. All Important. But after SO gave him the argument it was needed for tax purposes, Mr. All Important caved. 

[Deleted]

Mar 3, 2015 0:11:47 GMT @pennywise4 said:

I'm not sure why you needed a receipt for mileage proof. Couldn't you have just recorded the mileage in your mileage log? I think your package will be fine -- wouldn't bother contacting the buyer.

^^^

This.

Just keep track of mileage in a mileage log, they are $3 at Staples, or keep a small notebook in the glove box.  You do not need to prove you were there... the mileage itself and tracking info does that for you.  The date the item sold is proof enough that a trip to the PO would follow in the online sales biz.

Sorry, cannot help with the other issue.  Sounds like your PO lacks serious customer service skills.